Michiana Sportsman Spotlight
By Louie Stout
Joe Sears doesn’t have a lot of major accomplishments to show for his bass tournament legacy, but he’s trying to build one.
Sears was a regular around the South Bend/southern Michigan team tournaments the past few years. He had some success with team partners, but last year he decided to challenge himself.
Sears stepped outside his comfort zone and began fishing bigger tournaments on St. Clair and other big bodies of water.
Michiana Outdoors News admires the fact he was willing to take that risk and expand his fishing knowledge by fishing against some of the Midwest best anglers. That’s why we asked him to participate in our Sportsman’s Spotlight.
Here’s a Q&A we did with him:
MON: You started a business built around Big-Eye Joe. How did that come about?
Sears: That’s a nickname Eben Lambert tagged me with because when we fished tournaments together, I often overestimated the weight of our fish. He said I was always big eyeing’ them. So, I was on Diamond Lake a year ago and a boat load of kids came up to harass me. I videotaped it and started a bigeyedjoe youtube channel and created some apparel and other stuff associated with it.
MON: What made you decide to fish big tournaments last year?
Sears: I wanted to test myself and try something different. Tournaments around home are always on the same lakes and were getting beat up. Bigger waters provide more diversity and opportunities to learn so I decided to stick my big toe in last year and went after it.
MON: And how was it?
Sears: Humbling, to say the least, especially when you come to weigh-in with only four fish in a five fish limit. But I did Ok, considering I was relatively new to this and I learned a lot. I learned to stop second-guessing my gut decisions. I learned what to do and what not to do.
I also learned about boating big water. I was in the worst weather ever been in at a tournament – an F1 tornado on St. Clair – and I drove through 7 footers for 12 miles to get to the weigh-in when a lot of guys didn’t make it back in time. I was scared to death!
MON: Will you fish bigger stuff in 2026?
Sears: I plan to cut back some. I’ll fish some Big Stack PayBack tournaments and jump into some BFLs.
MON: You damaged your boat in the last tournament you fished. What happened?
Sears: I was competing in the BFL Regional at Pickwick in Tennessee. I was coming out of a creek and got out to the main stretch and hit something. I’m not sure what it was, but it took out my prop shaft, took the prop completely off the motor and two cylinders are damaged. I was in 23rd place after day one and still finished 37th out of 104 other anglers. My boat is still in the shop.
MON: How much did you spend pursuing those tournaments and how much did you win back?
Sears: I spent about $12,000 and got back about $4,000. Those guys I was fishing against are very, very good, especially with their forward-facing sonar skills. If you took that technology out of the equation, you’d see shift in the names on the leaderboard.
MON: What are your thoughts on forward facing sonar?
Sears: I use it and I like the thought of new technologies; they’re key to advancements around the world. But you can spotlight these fish all you want but you still must convince them that your lure is something they want to eat. And here’s the thing, you still need a basic knowledge of how fish set up on structure and how they survive.
MON: Do you think it should be allowed in all tournaments?
Sears: If a series is going to allow it in tournament it should do it for all tournaments. If a series wants to limit or ban it, it should hold a separate series for that.
MON: Would you fish a series that didn’t allow it?
Sears: I would 100%, absolutely fish it.
Joe Sears Details
Hometown: Bristol, Ind.
Occupation: Owner, J&N Lawncare Services
Favorite species and biggest: Smallmouth bass, 6-10, Detroit River
Favorite Michiana lake: Wawasee.
Hobbies when not fishing: Making lead head jigs.
If you had one lure for Michiana: 1/2-ounce green pumpkin jig with a craw style trailer for skipping docks or fishing rock, weed edges.
Favorite tackle: Lew’s baitcast reel, 7.5:1 gear ratio and G. Loomis GLX rods.
Best tip for Michiana anglers: Avoid fishing the same old spots. Fish change and so should you. Always be on the lookout for new areas or transition areas that could hold fish.